Italian Serie A football club Spezia is set to return to its Stadio Alberto Picco home ground next month after details of a renovation project for the stadium were revealed.
The 2020-21 Serie A season is Spezia’s first in the top flight of Italian football but the club has been forced to play home matches at Cesena’s Stadio Dino Manuzzi as the Stadio Alberto Picco needs upgrading.
The Stadio Alberto Picco has a capacity of around 10,000 but Pierluigi Peracchini, the mayor of Spezia, has detailed plans to increase this to 16,000 so it is in line with Serie A standards. Peracchini has targeted Spezia’s home match against Lazio on December 5 as the first Serie A fixture at the stadium as the club looks to gain approval to play at the ground amid the ongoing renovation plans.
Preliminary work on the project has been taking place since the start of the season and Peracchini said that a feasibility study will be officially presented at the end of the month.
The main part of the project will see the current grandstand demolished and replaced with a new 5,500-seat stand without barriers. The Curva Piscina stand will also feature 3,300 seats, with the two remaining stands to seat 3,100 and 4,014 fans, respectively, bringing the total capacity to just under 16,000.
Peracchini said: “Following the presentation of the complete study at the end of the month, the conversation with Spezia Calcio will begin for the next steps: the executive project and the time schedule for its realisation.
“The fundamental point is both to carry out the work step by step and to allow our team to obtain the necessary exemptions to play in our stadium.”
Earlier this month, reports in the Italian press claimed that Spezia was interested in purchasing the stadium in a deal worth between €5m (£4.5m/$5.9m) and €6m.
Spezia is currently 13th in Serie A after seven games of the season.
Image: William Domenichini/CC BY-SA 3.0/Edited for size
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